Hungary participated extremely actively in this year’s fair. Nearly forty Hungarian wineries exhibited in Düsseldorf.
Now with a good two decades behind it, ProWein is probably the largest international trade event for the world’s major wine producers and merchants to meet. This year, the dynamic and continually expanding fair welcomed potential buyers from one hundred and twenty-six countries who browsed the 6200 exhibited wines and spirits from 59 represented nations.
Nothing shows better the extent to which interest and number of visitors are growing than the fact that in April this year its Asian sister event (ProWein Asia) was also organised; ProWein China will also take place for the fourth time in Shanghai in November.
During the exhibition, in addition to the usual tastings, demonstrations, master courses and other programmes, the organisers also ensured that the numerous foreign visitors would have something to do in the market town after the fair had closed for the evening. The ProWein Goes City, which marks its ten-year anniversary this year, makes sure that once wine lovers are driven out of the familiar wine jungle of the air-conditioned halls, they can also get to know the city of Düsseldorf and enjoy themselves at concerts, exhibitions, thematic dinners – or simply soak up the bustle of the streets.
You may be lucky enough to find accommodation in the city. However, the majority of visitors are forced to settle for a comfortable hotel in the surrounding towns, which, let’s face it, is not so bad after a whole day of hustle and bustle, because the packed ProWein programme may cause even the most experienced of visitors to throw in the towel.
In the Champagne Lounge, the traditional producers introduced the classic sparkling drinks’ diversity and, as the name suggests, in the FIZZZ lounge, visitors could familiarise themselves with the world of international bars’ newest star, cocktails. However, we also tasted beers, could study wine production and innovative wine marketing ideas; you could also get a feeling for the latest trends in packaging and design.
For many visitors, the first must-do programme is a visit to the international tasting zone, where you have the chance to taste the medal-winning wines from the Mundus Vini international wine competition. We were pleased to note that in amongst the wonderful French sparkling wines, European, American and Australian wines, there were one or two familiar Hungarian labels, so international wine specialists and merchants were able to taste the gold-medal-winning 2013 Tornai Top Selection Nagy-Somló Tramini or the 2008 Hétszőlő vineyards 5 puttonyos Ászú.
Hungary was particularly active at this year’s fair. Approximately forty Hungarian wineries exhibited in Düsseldorf, among which twenty-two displayed their wares on the common stand organised by Hungarian National Tourist Office, Agricultural Marketing Directorate-General. The Szekszárd Vida Winery, Villány Vylyan Winery, Tokaj Szent Tamás and the Eger Kovács Nimród Winery exhibited on the German Ungaricum stand, Disznókő exhibited together as usual with Quinta do Noval, and Tokaj Kereskedőház, Tamás Duzsi Winery and Happy Hungarian Wines, which brings together 25 young producers, all had their own stands.
“I think this year’s fair has been more successful than ever before”, said Edit Bal, the Dereszla Winery’s chief winemaker, who happily poured natural essencia into visitors’ glasses. Experts knew that numerous merchants have set up meetings here over the last few years, visitors change on an hourly basis and more and more successful business is being done at the Düsseldorf fair. Therefore, the majority of exhibitors are taking advantage of this strategy. It was apparent that there was also plenty of activity around the Füleky Winery, Hilltop Neszmély and St Andrea Winery.
We’ve known for a long time that it’s not enough to simply have people taste your wines, it’s not enough to simply be present, you have to get yourself seen, so the majority of exhibitors also organised interesting workshops and master classes for visitors. It was a real experience to taste the Drappier 1976 Champagne, which still showed vibrant, exciting mature notes and you certainly don’t get to taste vintage ports or organic Bordeaux wine every day either. The master classes were often held by well-known, respected Master of Wines and wine experts. Demetri Walters, Marcus del Monegy and Elizabeth Gabay MW held the Hungarian tastings. After last year’s bad experience, it was good to see that the presentations with tastings always attract serious interest. The Ungaricum stand continued its successful series from last year, Markus Berlinghof and Caro Maurer MW attracted many experts and merchants with their presentation on Hungarian varieties.
Hungarian exhibitors consistently reported that the majority of visitors to their stands tasted wines produced from Hungarian varieties; they were most curious about Furmint, Hárslevelű, Kékfrankos, Kadarka and blends from these varieties. “It seems that there is no other way: Hungarian winemakers have to make world-class wines from Furmint and Kékfrankos”, declared the Eger Nimrod Kovacs winemaker. However, Péter Vida, the Szekszárd producer, was also pleased to note they seemed to be breaking the ‘Bull’s Blood’ curse. Many people praised the high-quality Kékfrankos-based blend.
This year’s ProWein can therefore clearly be declared a success and not only for the Hungarian exhibitors. It was reported that every second exhibitor found a new client. “The numbers clearly show that ProWein is the most important platform in the wine industry for doing business”, stated Hans Werner Reinhard, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf.
